‘TO TERRORIZE HIM’

Three Family Members Blind Gay Man in Brutal Hate Crime, Authorities Say

The three family members appear to be a couple and their son, according to an online petition.

Hate-crime charges are being filed against three Florida family members after they allegedly severely beat a man due to his sexual orientation. The three relatives—Inna Makarenko, 44, Yevhen Makarenko, 43, and Oleh Makarenko, 21—broke into the home of a 31-year-old gay man in August and assaulted him so severely that he has become permanently blind, authorities said. “They secretly, forcibly or by threat abducted or imprisoned the victim against his will…to terrorize him,” an arrest document reads. The forms add that the man nearly died after the beating. All three Makarenkos have been charged with attempted first-degree murder and battery. At their home, a mailbox has a taped sign with a QR code that reads “help Ukrainian refugees wrongly jailed” and leads to a site with an online petition with nearly 400 signatures. The petition appears to reference the three Makarenkos, describing them as a “mother, father, and son” who are “being accused of severe crimes with multiple charges against them!” “These could result in a life-in-prison-sentence in the United States or (if even possible) deportation back to Ukraine—where an excruciating war is happening now,” the petition adds.